North Stars edge Vikings to advance to sectional final

By Darryl Mellema

Of the ways to describe St. Charles North's most recent two victories in the IHSA playoffs, one word you can't use is "comfortable."

After laboring for 35 minutes and needing a weather-related game delay to sort out things against Batavia, the North Stars were again navigating close to a rocky coastline in Tuesday's Class 3A Schaumburg Sectional semifinal against Geneva.

St. Charles North won the match 2-1 when Leah DeMoss scored with 95 seconds to play but the victory was anything but easy for the top-seeded team, who were facing fifth-seed Geneva.

"We thought we'd give Vostal a heart attack first," DeMoss said of her team's coach, Ruth Vostal.

For her part, Vostal could do without all the dramatics, though there has been at least the satisfaction that the team continues to advance.

"I told them that if they keep doing this, my coaching career will be short because I'm aging," Vostal said.

The Vikings were resolute in their opposition to the North Stars and they took the lead after eight minutes when Sammi Hill set up Abbey Schroeder.

"I tell them it's a rival game and both teams are in the Tri-Cities and it's a team we played and lost to in the playoffs last year," Vostal said.

"As much as we try not to make it a rivalry, you knew they were going to play their best game and you hoped that we'd step up."

DeMoss got the match-tying goal 10 minutes after Hill scored at nearly the midpoint of the half after Meryl Behm sent a free kick into the penalty area.

The ball skimmed off KK Barr's head on the right wing and came to DeMoss, whose shot hit the right post and went in.

"It was like it was in slow motion to me," DeMoss said. "It went underneath and rolled past. But it went in."

One of the keys to the goal was Behm's well-placed free kick from the center of the field around 40 yards from goal.

"(Behm's) been working really hard on her free kicks," Vostal said. "We want to at least give ourselves a chance by getting them in and she's definitely been getting them in. I was proud to see (Barr) get in there."

For large portions of the second half, play centered literally on the center of the Schaumburg's artificially-turfed field.

Neither team did much outside the football hash marks and neither ventured into the others' penalty area much either.

Barr was one of the first players to bring play back to the outside, taking passes from the North Stars' central midfielders and then working either up the wing or back inside again.

"I loved having the ball come to me and getting a couple of those shots off," Barr said. "We were trying to get the ball to the outside.

"Going down the middle wasn't working for us. It was nice that we could get a couple of balls out there."

In opening up some wing play, Barr brought the North Stars closer to their pre-match expectations for how they would play.

"We knew sort of what they would do on Paige (Dusek) and (DeMoss)," Vostal said. "They had four people sitting deep, have a stopper and a sweeper and the sweeper would play centrally.

"We kept telling them to play it wide. We didn't do it well, but I think they were trying to."

The North Stars very nearly took the lead 14 minutes into the second half when Sammi Gage powered a header off the crossbar from a corner kick.

And with Geneva struggling to get its offense into any kind of flow, the North Stars struck for the winner.

Lauren Koehl sent a ball forward to DeMoss, who shot from the left side of the penalty area to the near post and scored, sparking scenes of both celebration and despair, depending which portion of the crowd or sideline you belonged to.

"(Koehl) played me a great ball," DeMoss said. "There wasn't much room but I got it in."

For its part, Geneva felt a foul should have been called on the play leading to DeMoss' goal, but no call was made and the goal stood.

As a result, the North Stars advanced to play Conant in Friday's sectional title match, which starts at 6 p.m. in Schaumburg.

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